The Western Conference Playoffs have thus far been hugely disappointing not unlike this years Final Four. Just like the Final Four, all the heads were talking about how it would be the greatest we’ve ever seen. Never before have we had four #1 seeds in the tourney since it had expanded to 64 teams. Both games were blowouts. The championship, however, told a different story with an overtime game that was truly riveting. The NBA has to be hoping for a similar turn of events in these Playoffs because so far its been pretty blase save for game one of Spurs Suns series.
It was supposed to be the best Playoffs ever, the most competitive to date. It has not been. Not even close. In fact last year’s playoffs were much better, at least up to this point. You had an upstart team in the Golden State Warriors take down the number one seed with the best record in the NBA, a 60 plus win team that boasted last years MVP. The Suns vs. Spurs series was one of the most exciting we’ve ever seen and that only went 6 games. It doesn’t look like we’ll get even one 7 game series in a first round that was supposed to give us at least two. Assuming the Western teams that are ahead all advance to the second round (can’t think of a safer bet), here are some things to look forward to in a potentially much better second round
Kobe Bryant is leading the league in technical fouls this year with 15. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Here’s why. When you give the refs the evil eye stare down every time you miss a shot looking for a bail out foul even if no opposing player is within 5 feet, well, you can expect to get T’d up regularly. The real surprise is that he isn’t challenging what might be one of the most untouchable records in sports. Forget Joe DiMaggio hitting safely in 56 straight games. Forget Barry’s 73 home runs, which will probably be broken as soon as the next masking agent hits the market. Rasheed Wallace owns the NBA record for most technical fouls in one season. Wanna know how many times he pushed the wrong buttons with the zebras? Incredibly, Sheed set the record in 99-00 with 38 technical fouls only to break his own record the following year with 40. FORTY! Now that’s impressive. Basically, if Sheed made eye contact with a ref he was getting blown for a tech. The real head scratcher is why doesn’t Kobe get called more often? Here are a couple possible reasons…
This Pac-10 season lived up to all expectations set forth by numerous prognosticators throughout the country. The highly touted Freshmen delivered almost beyond expectation as we saw O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, and Jerryd Bayless practically carry their teams during the course of a brutal in conference schedule. Take any one of those guys away from their respective teams and each would suffer considerably. Just look at Arizona. They lost Bayless for a five game stretch and could barely muster 2 victories. The Pac-10 has proved to be the nation’s top conference, on par with the Big East at the very least.
The Arizona schools have a lot to prove to the Pac 10’s best football team. Hell, they have a lot to prove themselves and even more to prove to the selection committee. The Bruins embarrassed both schools last time around. USC was able to beat the Devils while Arizona got a split. The Trojans look to return the favor tonight against the Wildcats (6 p.m. Pacific Time) and UCLA takes on ASU (7:30 p.m. Pacific Time).
With the Western conference getting even stronger due to the barrage of big time trades prior to the deadline, it’s time for the dormant (or doormat…whichever you prefer) Clippers to have their say. About the only thing left for the Clippers this season is to affect the seeding for the playoff contenders. The Clippers play the Blazers, who are contending for the final playoff spot, three more times. They play the West leading Lakers twice more. They also play Houston, Denver, and Dallas two more times apiece. All of these teams look to be headed to the playoffs so the Clippers will have an effect on the seeding. Maybe they can knock the rival Lakers down a couple seeds. That should be exciting right Clippers fans?
The Clippers got a rare road victory at Milwaukee on Monday night winning 96-89. It appeared they wanted to start a new losing streak, which began the previous night with blowout loss to. However, Al Thornton, the promising young rookie from Florida State wouldn’t let them. He scored 25 points on 12 of 20 shooting. With Cassell (21 points 8 assists) and Thornton shouldering the scoring load the Clippers didn’t need Caveman’s offense who instead, continued his heady play by contributing 15 boards.
The Phoenix Suns have traded one of their best players (Shawn Marion) and a seldom used back-up (Marcus Banks) for Shaquille O’Neal. On the surface this trade doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but let’s look closer.
It’s funny how Isiah guarantees victories against the league’s best, but remains mum against the league’s worst. Good thing though since the Knicks just lost to the Clippers 103-94. Any time Isiah is humbled…it’s a good day in the NBA. So then…with their Monday victory do the Clippers have reason for optimism? No…they don’t. But they do deserve congratulations for snapping an eight game road skid. Technically it was a nine game road skid, but I’m counting the loss to the Cavs on Saturday as a victory for two reasons. First, they played with out their two leading scorers (Maggette and Kaman) and second, they lost by under 50. In fact, they only lost by 14…so I’m sorry but that counts as a win. Extra kudos to the Clips for ending the skid against Isiah and his lowly Knicks. Stay tuned as the Clips play Boston on Wednesday. That should be fun.
Two of the Pac-10’s elite squads go up against each other tonight as Arizona takes on UCLA. Pauley Pavilion should be rocking as it seems we’ll finally get a game that hearkens back to the classic UCLA vs. Arizona match-ups of the mid-nineties. This Arizona team may be playing the best best basketball of anyone in the Pac after 4 straight conference victories.
Since people in Southern California retreat to their homes, drive 20 mph under the speed limit, and lose all motor skills at even the slightest threat of rain, it made me wonder what people do to pass the time…you know when they can’t go out and spend $15 per drink at the clubs.What if I told you there was a way to have as just much fun as going out and spending $15 per drink. You probably wouldn’t believe me. Of course there are always the old staples, stay in and watch movies, brew some hot cocoa, look in your fridge 20 or 30 times for food you know isn’t gonna be there.